---
name: "zck"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "zchunk"
version: "1.5.4-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/zck"
---

# zck(1)

compress a file using the zchunk format

## NAME

**zck** – compress a file using the zchunk format

## SYNOPSIS

**zck** \[**-D** *file* \| **--dict**=*file*\] \[**-m** *chunk* \| **--manual**=*chunk*\] \[**-o** *file* \| **--output**=*file*\] \[**-s** *string* \| **--split**=*string*\] \[**-v** \| **--verbose**\] *file*

**zck** **-**? \| **--help** \| **--usage** \| **--version**

## DESCRIPTION

The **zck** utility creates a new zchunk file from the data in the specified input file.

*NOTE:* If no output file is specified using the **-o** option, the **zck** utility will place the new file with the *.zck* extension in the *current* working directory, not in the directory where the original file resides.

The **zck** utility accepts the following optional arguments:

- **-D**, **--dict**

  Set the zstd compression dictionary to the specified file.

- **-m**, **--manual**

  Do not do any automatic chunking (implies **-s**).

- **-o**, **--output**

  Output to the specified file.

- **-s**, **--split**

  Split chunks at the beginning of the specified string.

- **-v**, **--verbose**

  Verbose operation; display some diagnostic output.

- **-**?, **--help**

  Display program usage information and exit.

- **--usage**

  Display brief program usage information and exit.

- **--version**

  Display program version information and exit.

## EXIT STATUS

The **zck** utility exits 0 on success, and \>0 if an error occurs.

## EXAMPLES

Create (in the current directory) a zchunk-compressed *words.zck* file from a dictionary:

```
zck /usr/share/dict/words
```

The same, but specify an output file:

```
zck -o /tmp/words.txt.zck /usr/share/dict/words
```

Generate a zchunk file with chunks separated on HTML sections:

```
zck -s '<h2>' doc.html
```

## SEE ALSO

[unzck(1)](/unzck/1.md), [zck\_delta\_size(1)](/zck_delta_size/1.md), [zck\_gen\_zdict(1)](/zck_gen_zdict/1.md), [zck\_read\_header(1)](/zck_read_header/1.md), [zckdl(1)](/zckdl/1.md)

## AUTHOR

The **zck** utility was written by Jonathan Dieter ⟨jdieter@gmail.com⟩. This manual page stub was written by Peter Pentchev ⟨roam@ringlet.net⟩.